There are 21 formats in which I can convert my file. Formats are
acad, dot, dxf, egg, euclid, euclid2, iges, jack, nff, nmg, obj, off, raw,
shell-rect, step, stl, tankill, var, voxel, vrml, x3d.

I am using BRL-CAD to make models and store it in .g file. I want to import this
BRL-CAD model into POV-ray.
Which formats should I choose from above 21 formats, so that I can first convert
my BRL-CAD model into that format and then convert it into .pov format to get
model with proper accuracy and with less damage to my model.

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"bakom" <gswithbains> wrote:
> There are 21 formats in which I can convert my file. Formats are
> acad, dot, dxf, egg, euclid, euclid2, iges, jack, nff, nmg, obj, off, raw,
> shell-rect, step, stl, tankill, var, voxel, vrml, x3d.
>
> I am using BRL-CAD to make models and store it in .g file. I want to import this
> BRL-CAD model into POV-ray.
> Which formats should I choose from above 21 formats, so that I can first convert
> my BRL-CAD model into that format and then convert it into .pov format to get
> model with proper accuracy and with less damage to my model.

I'm not quiet sure that I understand your request. But you can use obj and than
pass it through PoseRay to get a POV-Version
(https://sites.google.com/site/poseray/).

Best regards,
Michael

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Am 08.07.2014 18:04, schrieb bakom:
> There are 21 formats in which I can convert my file. Formats are
> acad, dot, dxf, egg, euclid, euclid2, iges, jack, nff, nmg, obj, off, raw,
> shell-rect, step, stl, tankill, var, voxel, vrml, x3d.
>
> I am using BRL-CAD to make models and store it in .g file. I want to import this
> BRL-CAD model into POV-ray.
> Which formats should I choose from above 21 formats, so that I can first convert
> my BRL-CAD model into that format and then convert it into .pov format to get
> model with proper accuracy and with less damage to my model.

Probably the most widely used path to get 3D data from 3rd party 
software into POV-Ray is via the mesh-based .obj format (and the most 
widely used tool for that job is probably PoseRay).

However, a quick glance at the Internet suggests that BRL-CAD also uses 
other model representations aside from the mesh format, and from the 
quality point of view it would be desirable to import those directly 
into POV-Ray without converting them to meshes first.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of tools that can convert to POV-Ray 
format only support meshes; maybe one of the major reasons for this is 
that an almost universally supported, simple file format with easily 
accessible documentation - like .obj in the mesh world - doesn't seem to 
exist in the CSG world; the most universal formats appear to be iges 
(.igs) and step (.stp), but both have a much wider scope than just 3D 
geometry, and documentation of the file formats seems hard to come by.

The BRL-CAD documentation mentions the possibility to write your own 
exporter, which might be the best choice in this case. After all, the 
POV-Ray format is quite easy to generate.

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You might want to look into Silo, which is a 3D modeling, retopology, yada yada
program that I just heard about. It sells for just over $100, supports input of
..dxf, .obj, .3ds, and outputs .pov format. I have not tried it, and I do not
know how far behind on version they are, whether they support mesh or true Pov,
but there it is.

clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> Am 08.07.2014 18:04, schrieb bakom:
> > There are 21 formats in which I can convert my file. Formats are
> > acad, dot, dxf, egg, euclid, euclid2, iges, jack, nff, nmg, obj, off, raw,
> > shell-rect, step, stl, tankill, var, voxel, vrml, x3d.
> >
> > I am using BRL-CAD to make models and store it in .g file. I want to import this
> > BRL-CAD model into POV-ray.
> > Which formats should I choose from above 21 formats, so that I can first convert
> > my BRL-CAD model into that format and then convert it into .pov format to get
> > model with proper accuracy and with less damage to my model.
>
> Probably the most widely used path to get 3D data from 3rd party
> software into POV-Ray is via the mesh-based .obj format (and the most
> widely used tool for that job is probably PoseRay).
>
> However, a quick glance at the Internet suggests that BRL-CAD also uses
> other model representations aside from the mesh format, and from the
> quality point of view it would be desirable to import those directly
> into POV-Ray without converting them to meshes first.
>
> Unfortunately, the vast majority of tools that can convert to POV-Ray
> format only support meshes; maybe one of the major reasons for this is
> that an almost universally supported, simple file format with easily
> accessible documentation - like .obj in the mesh world - doesn't seem to
> exist in the CSG world; the most universal formats appear to be iges
> (.igs) and step (.stp), but both have a much wider scope than just 3D
> geometry, and documentation of the file formats seems hard to come by.
>
> The BRL-CAD documentation mentions the possibility to write your own
> exporter, which might be the best choice in this case. After all, the
> POV-Ray format is quite easy to generate.

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On 13-7-2014 4:34, GrimDude wrote:
> You might want to look into Silo, which is a 3D modeling, retopology, yada yada
> program that I just heard about. It sells for just over $100, supports input of
> ..dxf, .obj, .3ds, and outputs .pov format. I have not tried it, and I do not
> know how far behind on version they are, whether they support mesh or true Pov,
> but there it is.
>

Silo has just come out with version 2.3 ( http://nevercenter.com/silo/ ) 
which is a maintenance version. It truly is an excellent program for 
those who want fast and easy modelling without strain to the brain :-) 
Additional supported formats from those mentioned above are .fac, .rib, 
.stl.

While supporting .pov output, I never use that as I prefer exporting as 
.obj and convert to mesh2 in Poseray.

Thomas

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